Costain Orders Rise to Record in U.K. Energy Contract Splurge

Aug. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Costain Group Plc, a U.K.
engineering solutions provider, added orders to a record number
in the six months ended June after signing new contracts with
National Rail, the National Grid and Centrica Plc.

Costain won more than 700 million pounds ($1.16 billion) in
new contracts and extensions in the first half, the Maidenhead,
England-based company said in a statement today. That helped
boost its order book by 10 percent to 3.2 billion pounds. Sales
rose 14 percent to 529.1 million pounds, while adjusted pretax
profit rose 8.3 percent to 9.1 million pounds.

“All of our major customers are looking to strategically
place contracts over a five to 10 year period,” Costain Chief
Executive Officer Andrew Wyllie said in a phone interview. “The
railways, the highways, the water companies, oil and gas have to
spend money because of legislation, or because of the national
need for secure energy, safe drinking water and 21st century
transport infrastructure.”

Costain was contracted by National Rail in February to work
on a 2 billion pound project supplying electricity to thousands
of miles of track across the U.K. while Centrica hired the
company to help build its 84 million-pound gas terminal in
Barrow in June. London’s growing demand for electricity
continues to drive Costain’s project to provide power tunnels to
the city, for which it’s responsible for 250 million pounds of
civil works.

The company has hired more than 1,000 workers over the past
12 months, including for jobs in data services, signaling and
specialist nuclear design. Costain raised 70.3 million pounds
this year to increase its financial capacity, Wyllie said. The
share sale “shows our customers we are able take on the very
largest contracts that they’re able to place,” he said.